Sankha

An intimate portrayal of Suvana Sudeb, a transgender person, who undergoes Gender Affirmative Surgery in order to negotiate the conflict of body and mind. This decision creates turmoil in her family, who fear societal backlash. As love remains elusive as always, Suvana realises that the surgery could not change her destiny, forcing her to reconcile with reality anew.

The film is a journey of the director to find an answer behind the trauma that shook her one fine morning at the age of twelve, when she had her first periods. Away from home and her mother on that particular day, she feared for her life, as she didn’t have the slightest clue about what was going on in her body. Her journey within the film extends to the experiences of several women around menstruation, through interactions with her daughter and a few friends. Finally, after thirty years, she confronts her mother.

This documentary covers civil disobedience in Manipur against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958. It highlights the protests that followed the 2004 murder of Thangjam Manorama, where residents protested the broad powers given to security forces under AFSPA. One famous photograph from this time shows 30 middle-aged women marching naked through Imphal, the state capital, to the Assam Rifles headquarters.